Allen County, Indiana Genealogy

🎉 Get ready to journey back in time with today's #WaybackWednesday! Check out this glimpse of St. Joseph Hospital...

Posted by Genealogy Center on Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Wednesday, April 24, 2024 post by the Genealogy Center on Facebook:

Get ready to journey back in time with today's #WaybackWednesday! Check out this glimpse of St. Joseph Hospital nestled at Berry and Broadway Streets in Fort Wayne. Dating all the way back to 1930, this vintage gem is straight from the Harter Postcard Collection in our Community Album.

Dive into this captivating image and more in our Community Album: http://contentdm.acpl.lib.in.us/

 

Four columns from the old St. Joseph Hospital are now at the Highlands Park Cemetery from a March 8, 2023 comment on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook.

Corner of Broadway and Main Streets April 2018 Street View photo from Google Maps

October 29, 2022 post by Randy Harter on Facebook:

Dan Baker in 2017 replicating an uncredited c. 1966 photograph that had been taken from the St. Joe Hospital heliport. Then St. Joe CEO Kenneth Jones had graciously squired us up to the landing pad so that we could include the "before and after" images in our book “Fort Wayne Through Time”. None of us will be making that trip again!

October 12, 2023 post by The History Center on Facebook:

In the midst of a medical emergency, we often take for granted the availability of a hospital. However, for the first 75 years of Fort Wayne’s existence there was not hospital within city limits. This all changed in 1868 with the establishment of all three major hospitals in Fort Wayne, including St. Joseph Hospital. The history of the hospital begins with the building of the Rockhill House in 1838 by William Rockhill. After struggling along the Rockhill closed in 1867 and was bought in 1868 by Bishop John Henry Luers (first bishop of the Fort Wayne Diocese) for the sole purpose of establishing a hospital. Due to the large German-speaking population in the diocese, Bishop Luers asked Saint Maria Katharina Kasper to send some sisters from the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, a German religious order, to come and staff the hospital. Over the years St Joseph Hospital developed into a 9-story facility with over 400 beds, providing care to thousands each year. The Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ owned and operated St. Joseph Hospital, from their arrival in 1869 until 1998 when they sold the hospital to Quorum Health Group. A 153 year old tradition of care came to end in 2021, with the completion of the new Lutheran Downtown Hospital. St. Joseph Hospital, both the name and building, disappeared from Fort Wayne in 2023 with the completion of the razing of its former campus. #sociallyhistory

May 17, 2023 post by the Genealogy Center on Facebook:

It's #waybackwednesday! Take a look at these then and now photos from our Community Album, courtesy of the Daniel A. Baker collection. These photos show the St. Joe Hospital in Fort Wayne as it appeared in 1920 and 2017.

Check out these photos and more from our Community Album here: http://contentdm.acpl.lib.in.us/

September 20, 2023 post by the Genealogy Center on Facebook:

It's #waybackwednesday! Take a look at these interior photos of St. Joseph's Hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana courtesy of the Harter Postcard collection in our Community Album.

View the collection here: http://contentdm.acpl.lib.in.us/.../collection/p16089coll11

Building teardown began in 2022 for a parking lot for the new downtown Lutheran Hospital 702 Van Buren Street. St. Joseph Hospital Historical Timeline through 2008 from Wayback Machine site. Another timeline is St. Joseph Hospital has a long history of care a staff report with photos published September 21, 2017 and New downtown Fort Wayne hospital won't bring job cuts by Bob Caylor published September 21, 2017 in The News-Sentinel newspaper. www.stjoehospital.com on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Over 250 mentions in a St. Joseph Hospital search including an aerial postcard image St. Joseph Hospital and Nurses Home, Fort Wayne, IN in The Harter Postcard Collection at Allen County Public Library Digital Collections at the Allen County Public Libraryand posted November 6, 2022 on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook.

1. 1838 - St. Joseph Hospital located in the former 65–room Rockhill Hotel begun in 1838 by William Rockhill, a famous Ft. Wayne politician. It was unsuccessful due to its distance from the business district and main railroad lines.
2. 1867 - The Rockhill House is purchased by Bishop Luers for $52,000.
3. 1869, May 4 - St. Joseph Hospital opened by The Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ first hospital in America opened. Three Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ came to Fort Wayne. Sisters Maria Henrica, Rosa and M. Matrona organized the hospital opening. See history on St. Joseph Medical Center on IndianaHistory.or, St. Joseph Medical Center & the Poor Handmaidens of Jesus Christ by Tom Castaldi, local historianpublished March 13, 2014 on the History Center Notes & Queries blog, and timeline on Lutheran Health Network St. Joseph Hospital History.
4. 1869–1875 Fees for hospitalization are $3–5 per week.
5. 1876 A doctor’s clinic opens and the first resident physician, Dr. Friscus, begins practice at the hospital.
6. 1894 An expansion to the hospital includes private and semi-private rooms, as well as elevators.
7. 1899 An isolation hospital is built by St. Joe for tuberculosis patients.
8. Once considered the country hospital prior to its 1900 annexation into the city. It commemorated its 150th anniversary May 4, 2019 in an urban setting. Copied from St. Joseph Hospital to throw 150th birthday bash Saturday published May 3, 2019 in The News-Sentinel newspaper.
9. A 1910 photo was posted September 21, 2017 by Downtown Fort Wayneon Twitter.

1910 Downtown Fort Wayne Twitter photo
10. 2017, September 20 - Lutheran Health Network today announced plans to build a replacement facility for the current St. Joseph Hospital, which has been in the same location since 1869. This will be the first time in more than a century a new hospital will be built in the central city. Copied from Lutheran Health will replace St. Joseph Hospital with new facility downtown published September 20, 2017, and a timeline through 2015 in St. Joseph Hospital has a long history of care published September 21, 2017 in The News-Sentinel newspaper. Photo from article posted on Twitter by Downtown Fort Wayne. With news September 20, 2017 that a new hospital will be built downtown, over 30 photos were posted September 21, 2017 on You are positively from Fort Wayne, if you remember... Archived group only visible to existing members on Facebook.
11. A May 2, 1916 newspaper article about a pear tree planted in 1842 by Johnny Appleseed was still bearing fruit on the hospital property.
12. A January 5, 1928 photo of patient in hospital bed using book mobile was posted July 6, 2017 by Allen County Public Libraryon Facebook.
13. St. Joseph Hospital Fort Wayne, Indiana search results on Google images.
14. Hearing the Call: The Art of Nursing at St. Joseph School of Nursing by Erika Baker published April 1, 2013 on the History Center Notes & Queries blogdiscusses the early history of the nurses and origin of the hospital.
15. St. Joseph Medical Center & the Poor Handmaidens of Jesus Christ by Tom Castaldi, local historianposted March 13, 2014 on History Center Notes & Queries blog.
16. With Lutheran Health Network’s St. Joseph Hospital closing Nov. 13 when the new Lutheran Downtown Hospital next door opens, the former facility will be demolished next year. The hospital, 700 Broadway, Fort Wayne, has a long history in the city. Copied from Nov. 12 - A brief history of St. Joseph Hospital by Mary Anne Gates For Business Weekly Nov 12, 2021.
17. November 13, 2021 a new Lutheran Downtown Hospital opened replacing the Saint Joseph Hospital which will be torn down and converted into parking spaces for the new hospital.
18. Ribbon cutting starts countdown to opening of new downtown hospital published November 12, 2021 by 21AliveNews.com.
19. The Spirit of St. Joe: Legacy of St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Wayne has three short videos St. Joseph Hospital: The Origins, The Poor Handmaids' Presence, and Continuing the Mission of the Poor Handmaids and a copy of the 10 page "Rockhill's Folly" Site now St. Joseph's Hospital by Sister Mary Aletha starting on page 19, May 1926 of the Progress edition of The News-Sentinel newspaperpublished November 12, 2021 by 21AliveNews.com.
20. Care still endures across the years with photos by Barbara Schoppman, hospital's former vice president of community and adult services, Gratitude spans generations memories by Mark GiaQuinta, an attorney with Haller Colvin,and Razing can't erase powerful memories Jessica Henry, executive director of Humane Fort Wayne, all published May 01, 2022 in The Journal Gazette newspaper.
21. St. Joe demolition to pave way for parking by Rosa Salter Rodriguez published June 6, 2019 in The Journal Gazette newspaper.
22. An informative article discussing the early history with photos Historic Catholic hospital lives on in memory, relics by Joshua Schipper published June 14, 2022 in Today's Catholic.
23. Adam Griebel Photography on various dates posted St. Joseph Hospital photos before and during demolition on Facebook.
24. The Demolition of Saint Joseph Hospital photo album at Christopher Crawford: Documentary Photography states: Founded in 1869, Saint Joseph Hospital was the oldest hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It closed in November, 2021 and demolition began in 2022. Because of its location in a crowded area of the city, the hospital is being slowly broken apart with hydraulic excavators. This is a common method of demolishing houses and other small buildings, but it is rare to see excavators used on a ten story building that occupies an entire city block. Originally a Roman Catholic hospital, Saint Joseph was sold years ago to a big for-profit company that also owns Lutheran Hospital and Dupont Hospital in Fort Wayne. The company built a new, much smaller hospital one block over on the corner of Main Street and Van Buren Street to replace the aging Saint Joseph Hospital. The Saint Joseph name was not kept; the new hospital is called "Lutheran Downtown." The former Saint Joseph Hospital site will become a parking lot for the new hospital.
25. A 1966 photo and 2017 similar photo shot from the top of the hospital were posted October 29, 2022 by Randy Harter, Fort Wayne historian and authoron True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook.

26. January 24, 2024 post by Jared Christiansen on Facebook:

    Back in 2021 I was hired by Lutheran Hospital to photograph St. Joe Hospital before it was torn down. I did that, and then decided to document the steps of the demolition all the way to the very last night.

    The images were good back then, but I've decided to completely re-edit the set. I've learned a lot more about editing, plus the software (Lightroom Classic) has advanced as well.

    The entire set has around 150 images, so it's going to take me a minute or two. Here are a few that I've worked on so far.

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